How Journalists Can Help Readers Deal with Information Overload

As a journalist, my goal is to write things that people want to read and be a trusted source. Part of that includes performing the function that publishers once did of filtering out the clutter. The Internet is filled with content that’s superficial at best.

A lot of it comes down to good news judgment, I think, recognizing things readers would be interested in. That depends on the audience, of course.

Despite information overload, the public’s appetite for news hasn’t diminished. But the writing needs to be compelling and condensed, more like radio or t.v. news writing, for people who get their news online or on their mobile devices. And writing style becomes just as important as in magazines since readers can quickly lose attention.

Online readers use headlines to decide what to read, so headlines take on greater significance as well. They need to be more attention-grabbing and self-explanatory than traditional newspaper headlines.

Attracting readers requires interesting, well-written news content that doesn’t waste their time and enticing headlines that are easy to understand/scan. 

This class will teach me much more, I’m sure, about the kind of content that mobile device users want to read.